No March salary for govt workers without Ghana Card: CAGD Declares

According to statements made by Mr. Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, the Controller and Accountant General, any employee in the public sector who does not possess a Ghana Card runs the risk of having their salary terminated beginning in March of 2024.

Following the deployment of a software solution that combined the databases of the Mechanised Payroll System of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) and the National Identification Authority (NIA) for the purpose of validating and verifying the wages of government employees, this development has taken place.

It is the purpose of this action to assist in the removal of “ghost names” from the payroll of the government and to guarantee that only real government employees are paid. Furthermore, it will guarantee transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the utilisation of public funds inside the government.

Wednesday was the day when Vice President Bawumia inaugurated the cutting-edge technology at the premises of the CAGD in Accra.

The programme was spearheaded by the Office of the Vice President as a component of the digitalization agenda of the government. This was accomplished in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance, the CAGD, and the National Information Authority (NIA).

The ceremony that was held to introduce the System was termed as historic and a huge landmark event by the Vice President. He also mentioned that the government had been utilising the soft infrastructure that it had created in order to even overtake more sophisticated countries.

He claimed that the System would assist in removing fictitious employees from the government payroll, which are commonly referred to as “ghost names,” and would also help to reduce instances of corruption in the management of payroll.

The National Service Secretariat in 2022 was the location where 14,027 “ghost names” were found on the payroll and deleted, which resulted in the nation saving 120 million Ghana Cedis. He mentioned this event as an example.

Since the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) possessed the biometric information of every Ghanaian, the Vice President pointed out that this would make it possible for the system to validate the biometric details of every recruit and check for payroll fraud.

During his statements of welcome, Mr. Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, who is the Controller and Accountant-General, stated that the initiative would ensure the prudent utilisation of public funds and would enhance transparency, efficiency, and accountability within the government payroll system.

Therefore, in order to avoid any hassles, he strongly recommended that those who worked in the public sector and those who retired on CAP 30 obtain the Ghana Card.

READ: Digital solution to eliminate ‘Ghost names’ on Govt payroll launched

Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, praised the work of the staff of the CAGD and the NIA. He was of the opinion that the system would preserve the public purse and prevent anomalies in payroll. On top of that, the Minister stated that it would save the government the resources that it had previously utilised in order to carry out payroll audits.

A presentation was given by Madam Georgina Marku Tyson, who is the Oracle Payroll Functional Consultant for the CAGD. The talk focused on the utilisation of the system and how innovative it would be to combat payroll fraud anywhere in the country.

The programme was attended by a number of government functionaries, including staff members of the CAGD, heads of the Office of the Local Government Service and the Civil Service, and other administrative officials.